"The Show Must Go On" is the 245th episode of the American television series '' ER''. The episode aired on May 19, 2005 on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

Plot synopsis

Dr. John Carter is back in the States to wrap up his affairs. He purchases half a dozen pizzas for the ER staff, as well as some refreshments. He also treats a patient who has injured her wrist. Ray is dealing with whether he wants to go into his residency as a doctor. Dr. Archie Morris and Dr. Ray Barnett leave for another party. This party is held on several floors in the back of an apartment building on the balconies at each level. Morris promptly becomes intoxicated, and begins vomiting. Barnett goes to help him. Suddenly the porches collapse, one on top of each other. Carter then leaves with Dr. Kovač for his "surprise" farewell party, where most of the attending doctors and his friends are waiting for him. County General then stops accepting trauma patients after further problems with the sewer pipes in the hospital leaves them with only one operating room, coupled with the fact that the majority of the ER staff is at Carter's party. Six people are killed in the porch collapse, and some are not hurt too badly. Five more are critically injured in the accident. Barnett surprises his friends with his handling of the situation. The

paramedic A paramedic is a registered healthcare professional who works autonomously across a range of health and care settings and may specialise in clinical practice, as well as in education, leadership, and research. Not all ambulance personnel are p ...

s on the scene tell Barnett that they are going to take the critically injured to St. Rafe's Hospital because County is closed. County is the only

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

hospital that has Level I Trauma Status in the show, making it the first choice for such situations. Barnett uses the radio to call County and demands that Abby reopen the ER, otherwise the five critical patients would probably not make it to the hospital. Dr. Lockhart initially refuses, as there are no attending physicians and only one OR, but when one of the critical patients dies, she relents. Unable to reach Dr. Kovač by pager, they send a student over to fetch him. The party immediately evaporates, as everyone runs back to the ER to help the victims of the porch collapse. A surprised Carter returns from the restroom to empty tables. They spend some time watching a slideshow of his time at County. The presentation features past ER doctors, including Dr. Doug Ross ( George Clooney),

Dr. Mark Greene Mark Greene, M.D. is a fictional character from the American medical drama series '' ER,'' portrayed by actor Anthony Edwards. He first appears in the series' pilot episode, and subsequently appeared as one of the principal characters until ...

( Anthony Edwards), and Dr. Peter Benton (

Eriq La Salle Erik Ki La Salle (born July 23, 1962), professionally known as Eriq La Salle, is an American actor, director, writer and producer. La Salle is best known for his performance in the film ''Coming to America'' (1988) and especially as Dr. Pete ...

). Eventually Dr. Susan Lewis brings Carter back to the ER. Carter treats one last patient before leaving County General. He is surprised to learn that he delivered the young girl with the broken wrist 11 years ago in Season 1. Before he leaves he stops by to see Ray, Neela and Abby and shares the letter he wrote to himself as an intern under Dr. Greene, that had sat in his locker until this point. As Carter is leaving the hospital for the last time, Dr. Greene and Dr. Benton (his primary mentors) and Nurse Carol Hathaway are heard in voice-overs. Outside, he finds a fatigued and partially sober Morris crouching outside. Carter repeats the advice that was given to Dr. Greene by Dr. Morgenstern to the new chief resident: "You set the tone."

Inspirations

The porch collapse featured in this episode is based on the true story of the

2003 Chicago balcony collapse On June 29, 2003, the deadliest porch collapse in United States history occurred in Chicago. An overloaded balcony collapsed during a party in an apartment building, killing thirteen people and seriously injuring fifty-seven others. The en ...

Also starring

Staff

* Scott Grimes as Dr.

Archie Morris ''ER'' is an American medical drama television series created by novelist and physician Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994, to April 2, 2009, with a total of 331 episodes spanning 15 seasons. It was produced by Consta ...

Leland Orser Leland Jones Orser (born August 6, 1960) is an American actor. He has appeared in numerous film and television roles, notably as Lucien Dubenko in the television series '' ER'' (2004–2009) and Sam Gilroy in the '' Taken'' film series (2008–20 ...

as Dr. Lucien Dubenko *

Sara Gilbert Sara Gilbert (born Sara Rebecca Abeles; January 29, 1975) is an American actress best known for her role as Darlene Conner on the ABC sitcom '' Roseanne'' (1988–1997; 2018), for which she received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations, and ...

as Dr. Jane Figler * Anthony Giangrande as Dr. Jeremy Munson * Britain Spellings as Dr. Sackowitz *

Michael Spellman Michael Spellman (born November 19, 1978) is an American film, television and stage actor. He appeared in the movie '' Charlie Wilson's War'' and on the TV shows '' How I Met Your Mother'', '' ER'' and ''Lie to Me ''Lie to Me'' (stylized as ...

as Dr. Jim Babinski *

Yvette Freeman Yvette Freeman is an American actress, singer and director. Predominantly active as a stage actress, she made her Broadway debut in 1979 in the original production of '' Ain't Misbehavin. She won the Obie Award for Distinguished Performance b ...

as Nurse Haleh Adams *

Lily Mariye Lily Mariye (born September 25, 1964) is an American television director, filmmaker and actress. Early life Mariye was born in Las Vegas, Nevada and graduated from UCLA with a BA in theater arts. Career From 1994 to 2009 she had a regular role ...

as Nurse Lily Jarvik * Laura Ceron as Nurse Chuny Marquez *

Deezer D Dearon Thompson (March 12, 1965 – January 7, 2021), known professionally as Deezer D, was an American actor, rapper and Christian motivational speaker. He is best known for his role as Nurse Malik McGrath in the American medical drama televisi ...

as Nurse Malik McGrath *

Kyle Richards Kyle Richards Umansky (: born January 11, 1969) is an American actress, socialite, and television personality. Since 2010, she has appeared as a main cast member on ''The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills'', and as of 2022, is the last remaining ...

as Nurse Dori *

Abraham Benrubi Abraham Rubin Hercules Benrubi (born October 4, 1969) is an American actor. He is known for his appearances as Jerry Markovic on the long-running medical television drama '' ER'', for his first role as Larry Kubiac on the series '' Parker Lewis C ...

as Desk Clerk Jerry Markovic * Monte Russell as Paramedic Dwight Zadro * Lyn A. Henderson as Paramedic Pamela Olbes * Emily Wagner as Paramedic Doris Pickman *

Brian Lester Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word m ...

as Paramedic Brian Dumar * Jordan Calloway as Volunteer K.J. This is the final episode with

Noah Wyle Noah Strausser Speer Wyle (; born June 4, 1971) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as John Carter in the television series '' ER'' (1994–2009), which earned him nominations for three Golden Globe Awards and five Primetime Emm ...

(who plays

Dr. John Carter John Truman Carter III, Doctor of Medicine, M.D. is a fictional character from the NBC television series ''ER (TV Series), ER.'' He was portrayed by Noah Wyle and appeared as one of the series' principal characters from the 24 Hours (ER), pilot ...

) as a regular cast member, although he has several guest appearances in later episodes. This is Scott Grimes' final episode before becoming a regular cast member in season 12, playing character

Others

* Danny Glover as Charlie Pratt * Sam Jones III as Chaz Pratt

External links

Full Cast & Crew
at the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Show Must Go On, The ER (TV series) episodes 2005 American television episodes